SPECIAL DAY YESTERDAY

We were at Arlington National Cemetery at a ceremony for two old friends.  The day was touching and poignant.  But, as we have learned over and over again, out of sadness comes light.  Family and friends come together to say goodbye and to support the loving people who have lost their loved ones.  We ourselves met up with friends we don't get to see that often, but what a joy it was to sit together afterwards, for several hours. The legacy many of our dear families have left for us are their children (like us) who have become connected over many years.  Another gift in life we must remember to treasure.  

"You don't see me but I am here,

By your side forever I will always be

The gentle breeze in the air."

~Linda Montalvo~

MOUNT VERNON INN RESTAURANT

I am going to be sharing a few posts of our activities over the holidays.  We had a dear friend stay with us for the week.  She left yesterday and we missed her as soon as her car drove around the corner.  Our son and daughter-in-law came over on Christmas Day.  We had a lovely time together and I will be sharing those photos also in the next few days.

This post is of our dinner at the Mount Vernon Inn and Restaurant.  The photo of my friend is when we were waiting for Gregg to join us.  They have a very comfortable seat outside the restaurant's entrance.  The room where we usually wait was being used for a 50th wedding anniversary dinner.

It was after the 25th and these posts will not be in chronological order.  Our reservation was for five p.m.  We arrived half-an-hour early so that we could browse around the gift shop.  

I also took photos of the Christmas Tree in the large foyer.  Here's one with our friend standing next to it.  We had fun looking at all the ornaments.  Many were these dolls.

I remember seeing them in the stores 40 years ago when we were living in Newport, Rhode Island for a while.  The company was out of New Hampshire.  It was the first time I had seen this type of doll.  Not to be played with, more a holiday decoration than anything.  I have three carolers in a box I bought at that time.  They didn't make it out of the basement storage room this year, because they are tucked away in a corner I couldn't get to.  We have more downsizing to do in 2019.  Enough of that!   Here are a few from the tree at Mount Vernon.

They are dressed in colonial style.  The ones I have are Victorian (David Copperfield days).

I didn't get the whole animal in the photo below, but on the right you can just about make out the legs of a toy camel.  They are on sale in the gift shop, along with these decorative figures. 

In 1787 George Washington paid 18 shillings to bring a camel to Mount Vernon for the enjoyment of his guests. When we visited a few years ago during the holiday season, there was a real camel on the grounds, as there is this year.  According to their website you can visit Aladdin, who normally lives in Berryville, Virginia.  You can read about him here.  There are pewter camel ornaments for purchase in the gift shop.  There are also plush toys (those shown on the tree) and a children's book which tells the story of Washington's camel, and other animals at Mount Vernon.

There are also miniature replicas of Mount Vernon, and some were painted on glass ornaments.

And George Washington in clothes-pin form.

At five o'clock we went into the restaurant and had a very nice time together, and a nice meal.

We all ordered the peanut and chestnut soup (sorry, no photo except for the bowls you can see in front of us).  Our friend had the salmon dish, Gregg ordered the turkey pot pie, and I the shrimp and grits.  It doesn't look like it in the photo above, but the restaurant was very busy, as were the staff.  That's why I appreciated it very much when the young man I asked, stopped long enough to take our photo.  He was very gracious, polite and kind, giving us a genuine smile as he said that he was not very good at taking photos and hoped ours would be okay.  It was I assured him and thanked him as we looked at the photo.  

Here is a collage I put together of our meal.  We had asked for the cornbread but the lady who took our order wasn't sure it was still on the menu as it had changed recently.  We ended up with the Colonial Hoecake which was topped with country ham, sautéed crabmeat and hollandaise sauce.  It was very good but I hope we can get the plain cornbread next time.  You can take a look at the dinner menu if interested right here.  The other menus can be found on their website.  We also took home their famous bread pudding.  I never fail to order a piece, to be eaten later that day or the next.  It seems even better the day after.

On our way home we found ourselves next to a Mini Cooper.  I have a soft spot for these cars.  This was the first vehicle I ever owned, in my early 20s. I had saved up for several years.  It was the old style, with rusty spots here and there that contrasted beautifully with its grey color, yes it did.  I loved that old car.  I had my independence and didn't care what it looked like, though I gave it a lot of tender loving care. It was a Rolls Royce to me, four wheels to get me from A to B. When I met Gregg I had owned it for about a year, and on our very first date I picked him up at Torquay Harbor and drove him on a sight-seeing tour over Dartmoor.  The radiator had a leak and I had to carry a bottle of water.  He carefully filled the radiator regularly.  On subsequent dates he rented a car for us, which was probably wise as my old car went into the shop soon after.  Getting back to this fancy little number at the side of us, what I noticed was the Union Jack design on the rear lights, and no rusty spots in sight!  I have seen the Union Jack painted on the roof of these cars, but have never noticed the design in the lights before. 

That's it for our trip to the Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant, until the next time that is.  

Thanks for stopping by and on this, the first day of January 2019, Happy New Year!

A WEEKEND WITH FRIENDS

I have told variations of this story in other posts, but for several years now I have been going to the opera with a group of friends.  We met at a British shop I found myself working at, where I went for lunch one day and was offered a job.  I had the right accent I suppose. As most often happens when I get out of my comfort zone, I had to be talked into it. My sister was visiting at the time and I had taken her to lunch.  She told me I would be mad to say no, that if she could she would take the job.  So after listening to her off and on for a week, we went back for another lunch and when asked again, this time I said yes. I talked with the owner for twenty minutes or so, and by the end of it I agreed to start in a few days after my sister had gone home, with the proviso that this would be a trial run.  I ended up staying for several years and I met these ladies.  The shop eventually closed but our friendship has remained, and we all have a love for opera.  

We saw La Traviata last Saturday. We go to our local theater and watch a live televised performance from the New York Metropolitan Opera House.  Beautiful!  However, I fell asleep during the first act. The chairs are like a lazy-boy, where the head rest goes down and the foot rest comes up.  Listening to the music and in the darkened theater, already feeling very sleepy from the night before, I have occasionally been lulled into a comfortable snooze.  I am not alone as at one time or another we occasionally hear a few snores from our fellow opera lovers out in the darkness.  Those lazy-boys you know?

We came back home and my friends stayed the night.  We have dinner, a couple of glasses of wine, and chat until one to two o'clock in the morning, always looking at the clock in surprise and invariably saying where did the time go?  (Gregg leaves us hours earlier to go watch a game upstairs).  This has been a pattern for a whole lot of years, once a month during opera season, sometimes twice, and in the summer months we go do other things.

As it isn't long before the holidays, one of my friends, the lady in the red sweater brought a Christmas Pudding and set it alight.  It was a fine ending to a very nice meal (the main course being cooked by Gregg after we got home from the opera).

Our friend was told by her culinary friend to use Vodka to set the pudding alight, because it gives a more vibrant flame.  Holly leaves and berries from her garden to go on top, and a delicious rum butter to serve with it.  It was all delicious and a very pretty show.

So, there you go, that was our weekend.  A good time with friends is always a gift isn't it?

Thanks for stopping by.

  

A COUPLE OF DAYS AFTER THANKSGIVING...

we took a ride to see the Festival of Lights at a park in the next town over.  

It was fun.  I tried to take photos but only one or two came out.  I thought perhaps I might do better taking a short video with my iPad, which you can listen to above.  

It was a nice leisurely drive.

Later I suggested we stop at our local coffee shop and get a hot chocolate.  It made for a very pleasant end to the day.  These photos were taken on our way to the car. The lighting was nice and bright.

 As you can see, everywhere is decorated for the upcoming season.

MONDAY FOOD POST - AN AFTERNOON TEA WITH FRIENDS

My recipes may be a bit scarce for a while but today I am sharing a few friends and the afternoon tea we had.

I have known these ladies for years, and we remain close through thick and thin.  

We had gone to our last opera for a while and we decided to have an afternoon tea afterwards.  When we get home it is evening.  One friend brought sandwiches, one friend brought scones and the clotted cream (the strawberry jam I already have in the fridge), one friend brought the wine, and I provided copious amounts of tea.  

My friend who brought the scones and clotted cream, knitted me a pretty little tea-cosy for a teapot she had given me last year. It did the trick and our tea was nice and hot for as long as it stayed in the pot.

Everyone stays the night and we have a chat-fest until midnight, sometimes later. Then we get up in the morning and continue where we left off.  First one up puts the kettle on.  I more often than not fix poached eggs on toast, but today it was blueberry pancakes.  Not very British you might say but it was a winner with all of us.  Everyone pitches in to help with dishes and clean up, which is always appreciated.  Breakfast starts breaking up around noon and two in our party make their way home.  

The remaining friend stays another night, and Gregg takes us out to dinner later in the day.  That night we put the TV on and watch British shows on Netflix.  Gregg's sports are calling again and he retires for the night.  My friend and I watch our shows until around ten o'clock.  By that time we are dropping off to sleep where we sit.  It has been a busy weekend.

This is a big thank you to Gregg as he, bless his cotton socks, makes himself scarce and lets us get on with it.  Occasionally he comes down just to see what's going on, and we fix him a bite to eat, but for the most part he's happy watching sports or some other show he enjoys. The next day when our friend stays that extra night and he takes us out to dinner, he enjoys joining in the conversation.  But for the most part he lets us have a ladies only weekend.  And talking about sports, he is such a good sport about it all.

HURRICANE IN FLORIDA

We have just returned from a week down in the Outer Banks in North Carolina, and have been following the news on Hurricane Irma for several days.  To everyone we know, and to those we don't know in Florida, you will be very much in our thoughts.  We're praying that you all stay safe.

THE CHOCOLATE CAFE IN WINCHESTER, VA - PART 1

A couple of weekends before last we had an all-ladies stay-over at our house.  Gregg is a good sport about it and doesn't mind tucking himself away upstairs when he wants to retreat from all our chatter.  He is content going off to whatever place he enjoys for some alone-time, enjoyed a nice long bike-ride among other things, and in the evening watches baseball and other shows in our bedroom. Our bedroom turns into his retreat at such times, when he is outnumbered by us females.  All joking aside he enjoys my friends and having a chat with them, but a lot of the time he is in his, what do they call it these days, his "man-cave"?

I didn't take many photos of our time together, just this one before Gregg's bike ride.  All the flowers I am sharing came from a friend's garden when we dropped her back home a couple of days later.  She has a magic touch.

The weekend was over all too soon but the one friend mentioned above stayed a day longer, the friend who has a magic touch in her garden.  Before we dropped her off at her home, she treated us to lunch at a place in Winchester called The Chocolate Cafe.  (I like to mention that I am not getting anything for this free advertising, but if I find a place we truly enjoy, I like to mention them on my blog.  We will be going back.)

When we walked in I looked around and knew we had come to a neat place.  I asked the manager if I could take photos, and she very kindly gave me the okay.

We ordered our sandwiches and I forgot to take photos of those, but we all enjoyed them.  I had a pastrami on rye and it was the best sandwich I had had in a very long time.  If I don't take a photo I can't remember what anyone else had, but they all agreed their choices were excellent, which included a small side dish of orzo pasta salad which was my choice.

As you can see from the photo below there is a definite connection to furry friends.  The tip jar contents go to their local rescue shelter.

There is even an adoption wall.

Hopefully you can enlarge all the photos and have a better look.  In the sign below it says the walls are covered with photos of rescue animals from a no-kill shelter that they support.  This cafe definitely has a big heart.

Attached to the cafe is a place that sells all kinds of chocolates, and I will share photos from there in another post, but here is a 'taste' of what to expect.